x
Breaking News
More () »

Amount of people traveling back to pre-pandemic levels as prices increase

People have been waiting to travel during the pandemic, but prices for hotels and travel continue to increase. But it's not stopping families who want to travel.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Families everywhere are enjoying some time off this week for Spring Break, but if you've tried to book a hotel room recently you may have been shocked at the cost. 

While many have been waiting to travel for over two years, prices are continuing to increase. 

But despite the high costs the travel industry is back and booming.

The AC Hotel in downtown Little Rock opened up just before the pandemic started. 

According to Katherine Workman, the hotel's sales director, they were only filling up rooms at 10% capacity. Now they're selling out almost every night.

"It's magical. It makes all of that hard work that we put in during that pandemic worth every minute of it," she said.

For the first year of business these hallways in the AC Hotel were pretty quiet, but Workman said people are now filling up rooms every night.

"We have been so busy, we're selling out and we can't get enough staff to cover and get these rooms flipped fast enough," she said.

Last summer the hotel was at about 50% capacity but now most nights it's at 100%. 

Workman said it's a mixture of business and leisure travel.

"With the concerts picking up, with more activities picking up, with the additional things picking up in Little Rock, we have really been busy," she said.

It's a similar trend that Small World Big Fun travel agency owner Cindy Minor is experiencing. 

"Work has been absolutely insane for the past several weeks," she said.

That insanity started for Minor as omicron cases fell. 

With families saving up two years of vacations, everyone is ready to get back out which means prices are going up.

"If you had planned a trip for the summer of 2019 versus the summer of 2022, you're going to notice a difference in the cost of that trip," she said.

The current tensions in Ukraine aren't helping those prices any with flights costing more, but Minor said that isn't changing anyone's plans.

"Now with heading into the summer people are like, 'Okay it's yeah-- it's a little bit more than I thought it was going to be,' but they're going anyway," she said.

Minor said more people are going back to traveling abroad, but no matter where you're going you should start planning now.

"The early bird gets the worm y'all. If the further in advance you plan, the better price you're gonna get," she said.

Experts tell us this is the time to start planning summer vacations, if you haven't already. 

The AC Hotel said they are already booking up for summer months and Minor said aside from high costs, some of her clients are running into no availability at certain resorts or hotels.

Before You Leave, Check This Out